Nigeria: The powerful taking the law into their hands

The third part of that programme

If we are to go by the respect for the rule of law as the core intent of President Yar’Adua’s programme in Nigeria, I have noted we also have to have that go in tandem with equality before the law.

Reading another news story today leaves me very aware of the fact that the President does have a mammoth task before him and I can only wish him Godspeed.

Obviously, it appears many of my insights seem to revolve around the family of the ex-President, I would have you know that their cases are not unique and almost always representative of people who can wield power and peddle influence by reason of their association rather than personal achievement.

Daughter bothers mother

This time the matter concerns of the mother of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello – Mrs Remi Obasanjo; considering the tribulations her daughter has been going through and they the parents would quite have us believe their daughter is being persecuted and victimized as a means of getting at her father.

That is a matter for some other debaters; however, it is nice to see that families do close ranks when met with some sort of adversity.

It would appear the mother had been in Abuja to offer moral support to her daughter and only just returned to Lagos after her daughter had fulfilled her bail conditions.

Since the daughter until recently had been as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel the press decided to seek a sound bite off her mother in Lagos about the travails of her daughter.

Within the law your privacy

Now, anyone anywhere should be at liberty to exercise the right to privacy and be able to seek relieve from intrusion of the press. Generally, that should be a polite message to visitors that one is not interested in their entreaties and inquiries, failing that one can seek the help of law enforcement or go as far as seeking an injunction from a court of law.

A journalist from the Punch newspaper - the powerful have a seething contempt for professional, journalists, most especially - visited the premises of Mrs Remi Obasanjo in Lagos seeking an interview and presented his business card to the security guard; soon afterwards an aide of the madam came to the gate and this allegedly is the conversation that took place between them.

The threatening conversation

Aide: Are you the owner of this card?

Reporter: Yes.

Aide: Madam is not in the mood to see anybody now and I will advise you strongly that you leave this place at once.

Reporter: Did Madam actually send you to deliver this message?

Aide: Yes, and I will advise you in your own interest to leave and never to come around this place again.

Reporter: Why?

Aide: Well, I have just told you, if you love yourself, don’t come here again. Or why do you want to risk your life?

Reporter: But this is not my first visit here.

Aide: And since you have been coming, how many times have you seen her? So, in your own interest don’t come here again.

Reporter: But make sure you give my card to her.

Aide: She has seen your card, and will call you when she is in the mood to talk. Bye

Reporter: All right.

My pique

I have a serious problem with this conversation, the first clause of the second sentence of the Aide is fine enough – Madam is not in the mood to see anybody now – fair enough she has had a rough few weeks on account of her daughter.

Is there any reason to then try to menace the journalist with – I will advise you strongly that you leave this place at once – it is very much like chasing away a stray dog; there might be cases for treating journalists as dogs, but I do not think the conversation warranted this level of hostility.

The reporter then tries to ascertain if the threat was a direct order from the madam or the aide being supercilious and working beyond her brief.

Incriminating her mistress she affirms that she was told to threaten the journalist – fine enough.

She then threatens the well-being of the journalist saying he should in his own interest leave and never come back again – well, where there is a public interest issue that would be a difficult order to follow – we can agree that the case of the daughter does not automatically make the mother a public interest subject.

The threats and menace continue with this statement – I have just told you, if you love yourself, don’t come here again. Or why do you want to risk your life? – She does appeal to his sense of self-preservation but a threat to his life?

Is Nigeria this lawless?

This is just not on, is Nigeria such a lawless society?

Is she implying that an enquiry made of the ex-wife of a former president can lead to a homicide in trying to escape or avoid media scrutiny?

That I would say is completely lawless, no one should have their lives cheapened in such a way in order to convey a message that they are being inconvenienced, it is really taking the law into their hands and there are places where such a threat would be prosecuted to the limits of the law exacting apologies and compensation.

But this is turning into a train of ideals that need to be part of the President’s grand scheme – respect for the rule of law, equality before the law and not taking the law into ones hands.

The aide either exceeded her lawful remit or her madam was wielding influence and power that primarily should belong to law enforcement and legal process – you can refuse to see a journalist, you can beseech the journalist not to visit or pursue you but you have crossed the line of legality when you threaten a journalist with menace.

In the end, I am glad she did not send out her security guards to beat the journalist to a pulp, I would not put it beyond their ilk to commit such a heinous act and get away with it.

I think can now really announce that I am officially exiled from Nigeria – I cannot countenance this kind of attitude, it is just not on.

Godwin Agbroko - Journalist murdered in Nigeria

Another Journalist Murdered

I had veered off into the wild for news when I happened upon ThisDayOnline – a useful and sometimes informed outlet for news from Nigeria.

As it happened, there was the unfortunate and rather bizarre brutal murder of the Chairman of the editorial board of that news organ on the 22^nd of December 2006, something I had not picked up from all the other blogs I frequent.

It is of great concern if like Dele Giwa of NewsWatch who was mortally wounded on receipt of a letter bomb in 1986 that another news man should come to his end being killed by possibly some hired hoodlums.

There is the suggestion that he might have been attacked by armed robbers, however, the likelihood is that he was onto something that someone influential did not want exposed.

Journalism in young democracies

It makes journalism a very precarious business considering the advent of a nascent democracy in Nigeria requires the freedom of the press and the freedom to information as well as access to information that threatens to undermine the function and progress of democracy – corruption being a principal impediment.

Russia is another example of where journalists live in great peril when they come across news that the government or oligarchs would like suppressed, in a democracy that seems to losing a positive focus, 2 were killed in 2006, and many are incarcerated.

The evolution of the scoop

There is no doubt that editors of major and seemingly impartial news outlets would gain access to volatile material and information, which they might not publish immediately as they investigate and try to gather a compelling and useful story.

As they develop the plots, there are people who would prefer that the truth of those issues are not exposed, where rather than having the good sense not being engaged in suspect and nefarious activities they would prefer to do things with impunity and eliminate any function or person that might expose their “shameful” deeds.

These rotten people do need to be exposed, deposed and prosecuted to the limits of the law, it would mean that exposés that editors come against cannot be used as exclusives that we are used to in the West, there has to be a league of trusted editors with a secure and vibrant network of shared values and information.

Here, it would mean all editors have to be eliminated, all almost impossible task – if a story that can cause ructions hits the investigation trail and is about to cause a serious upheaval that would upend these influential criminals.

This is the kind of evolution required of journalism in countries like Nigeria and partnership which helps safeguard the freedom of the press, the freedom to publish and the freedom to do so with the fear of loss of life, property or face.

His stewardship

Mr. Godwin Agbroko, whose demise has generated a rash of condolences – enough of the condolences and get with tracking down the culprits – did seem to lead a group of dedicated editorial staff though I have much disdain for his attention to the work of his proofreaders, a legacy he now seems to have suffered that they did not discover that his name was misspelled as Agboko in one of the articles, an issue I raised about sloppy journalism when they wrote a piece about Margaret Ekpo.

This is an area of journalistic expertise that needs good resources and strict supervision, it detracts from the quality of that work if we have to read and understand words from context only because they are meaningless due to the lack of proofreading.

The layout of web articles are also in need of some radical improvement, the paragraphs are not properly delineate, the lengthy pieces are literally impossible to read after the first new lines.

However, this should not detract from that fact that a journalist has been murdered and much more should be done to ensure that the culprits are brought to book first and then these crimes should not thrive in Nigeria, this highlights an area in need of serious development – forensics.

Reference

The journalist death toll of 2006